Detroit Garden Works is ablaze with blooming plants-mostly of the annual and tropical variety. We do offer specimen boxwoods, dwarf apple trees, fig trees, blueberries, and espaliers. But the blooming plants get a lot of attention. Blooming lantana and abutilon standards. Great ferns. Bay laurel standards. We had lots of gardeners shopping for plants. The weather seems to have warmed up, and the danger of a killing frost seems behind us. Good gardeners are planning and shopping. Though the daytime temperature was a brisk 68 degrees, there was something in the air. Sturdy and healthy plants coming in to bloom made the shop come to life. Our life revolves around the plants.

Yellow Punch canna has the most delightfully clear yellow blooms atop a large growing plant. Said plant is handsomely endowed with large dark green leaves. Yellow Punch canna is aptly named. They look great with the King Tut papyrus set in close proximity. Most certainly, we arrange our plants with good design in mind.

Miniature fuchsia flowers are dainty and complex. This pink bicolor version is sweet. Paired with pale pink nicotiana – very sweet. The newer varieties of fuchsia tolerate hot weather. Look to them to brighten a shady spot.

These blooms of from a Venus dogwood I have at home. The flowers are every bit of 7 inches across. They are just coming in to full bloom. A cross between the pacific coast dogwood, cornus nuttallii, and cornus kousa, this tree blooms it heart out. It is hardier than either of its parents, and grows lustily in full sun. I plant them every chance I get.

We plant lots of annual pots at the shop. As soon as we have a group available, they are gone. The early summer blooming is irresistible. The dirt under my nails and on my hands will survive for another 5 weeks. How great is this?

The ornamental oregano Kent Beauty is tough to grow, early on. Professional growers shy away from it. It looks lame in a 4″ pot. Once it is planted, it thrives. The foliage and flowers never fail to attract attention. Have a planting planned for sun and dryer conditions? This oregano is a beauty.

The Cathedral salvias have my attention this spring. They have substantial flower heads in a variety of enchanting colors. Having never been a fan of victoria blue salvia, I am giving this plant a second look.

It is not the best move, buying annual plants in bloom. Flowering annuals in flats will take to transplanting reluctantly. If I plant flats, I plant green only. This is why I carry few flats of flowers. The soil mass of a 4 inch pot buys a little time. Time for you to organize your planting scheme. Time for the grower to realize their investment. The late spring season is really short. The time and expense getting ready for a spring season-enormous. The health and vigor of the annual flowers, at the mercy of the weather. Of this, I am sure. If you grow for a living, you have a very hard and demanding job. If you garden, you have a lot of work on your hands. The spirit dwarf cleomes have all the blooming beauty of the species, less the size. Look this cleome over. The blooms are so beautiful.

This planting with bok choy is about to go down. The pansies are unhappy about the heat. Alyssum is a supporting cast plant that will at best need to be cut back after a flush of bloom. At worst, alyssum will rot and die out with too much rain. But the main issue here is a vegetable bolting. Cool weather vegetables will go to seed, once the weather gets really warm. Should you grow vegetables to eat, the vegetable flowers are not of much interest. The food value aside, this blooming container is really beautiful right now.

The begonias love the hot weather. They also love a prudent and reserved waterer. Their blooms are breathtaking. They are so worth learning how to grow. We have them in our greenhouse still. They do not love so much the transition from spring into summer. They are summer born and bred. Once we have really warm weather, try them.

Agapanthus is not native to our zone. But we sell them, anyways. The form, that blue, so enchanting. They are not so hard to winter over, in a garage. Jut about every blooming is a garden is ephemeral. The annual plants-they soldier on. I love them for this.

So many things are blooming now. The alliums. The early clematis. The scilla hispanica. The bearded iris and the poppies. The azaleas and rhododendrons. The horseradish. The early annual plants. The nepeta. It’s an early summer bloom fest. My delphiniums and roses are budding. Are you not in gardener’s heaven? I am.

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About the Author

Deborah Silver is a landscape and garden designer whose firm, Deborah Silver and Co Inc, opened its doors in 1986. She opened Detroit Garden Works, a retail store devoted to fine and unusual garden ornament and specialty plants, in 1996. In 2004, she opened the Branch studio, a subsidiary of the landscape company which designs and manufactures garden ornament in a variety of media. Though her formal education is in English literature and biology, she worked as a fine artist in watercolor and pastel from 1972-1983. A job in a nursery, to help support herself as an artist in the early 80’s evolved into a career in landscape and garden design. Her landscape design and installation projects combine a thorough knowledge of horticulture with an artist’s eye for design. Her three companies provide a wide range of products and services to the serious gardener. She has been writing this journal style blog since April of 2009.